Lunch
by Julie Ann Pope
Summary: "It's hot, I'm bored yet overworked and I just wanted to see you." Written for International Day of Femslash 2013. Gill/Julie


**Author's Note:** a piece I've written to celebrate International Day of Femslash 2013 and a light-hearted break from some of the angst of Old Scores.

* * *

A new email notification popped up on Gill's taskbar and upon seeing who the sender was, she immediately went into her email program.

_From: Dodson, Julie D_

_Meeting Request: Today at 13:00_

_Location: Royton Park_

Intrigued, Gill opened up the request fully to see if there was a side note but there was nothing. She picked up her office phone and dialled Julie's work number thinking that if she'd just sent an email she must still be at her desk. Unfortunately it went straight to voicemail so she sent a text instead.

'_Business or pleasure? G x_' She'd just put her phone back down on her desk when it vibrated with a response.

'_Pleasure of course ;) J xxx_' Gill smiled secretly to herself and tried not to get too excited about her lunchtime rendezvous in front of her team. It had been a long time since someone had surprised her in the middle of the working day. Their romantic relationship was still fairly new territory but they had known each other a long time before they'd made that leap, so there hadn't been any real bumps in the road or nasty surprises so far.

Gill left the station at dead on 1pm and muttered something to her syndicate about taking a long lunch break; which meant an actual lunch break in her case as opposed to the consumption of a soggy sandwich somewhere around dinner time when she was well past the point of hunger. She suddenly realised that she hadn't been told where to meet Julie specifically and felt around in her handbag for her phone. Unfortunately she must have left it on her desk in her dream-like haste to meet her lover. She just hoped the older woman would make it obvious where she was and continued on, crossing the road to the large double gates that served as the main entrance to the park. Gill walked about a hundred metres down the path and passed several people who were also taking advantage of the nice weather by having lunch outside. She spotted Julie in-between some trees off to the right and sighed in relief at finding her so easily. Gill approached and grinned at the sight before her. Julie sat on the edge of a tartan picnic blanket with champagne, glasses and strawberries set out in front of her. She had taken her heels off and sat leaning off to one side with one arm supporting her and her legs stretched out.

"What's all this for?" Gill shielded her eyes with her hand as she hadn't thought to bring her sunglasses to work with her this morning and looked down at Julie relaxing in the shade of a tree.

"Come, sit. Does there have to be a reason?" Julie could have looked at Gill standing there all day but she wanted to spoil her with a nice lunch break and she couldn't do that if she didn't sit down and relax.

"Unless you've done something that needs forgiving?" Gill raised her eyebrows in a very '_Godzilla_' like manner but deep down she knew that she could trust Julie, despite her past experience with her ex-husband. She complied with Julie's request and kicked off her shoes so she could sit down and stretch out opposite her.

"Of course not, you cheeky mare!" Julie sighed deeply. "It's hot, I'm bored yet overworked and I just wanted to see you." It sounded so apologetic and Gill knew that the stress of being a DSI was taking its toll.

"Well I'm very glad to see you and this is lovely." Julie pulled the champagne out of its cooling jacket and handed the bottle to Gill to open.

"Only a half bottle I'm afraid, I know that technically we shouldn't even be drinking at all."

"It's perfect and as you're the superior officer I bow to your better judgement on this occasion." Gill said it with a wink and began to peel off the foil top. She untwisted the wire cage that held the cork in safely as Julie fumbled in a cool bag behind her for some other morsels of food that she'd brought with her. Gill successfully wiggled the champagne cork free from the bottle with a gentle 'plop' and divided its contents between the two glasses Julie had provided. She waited for Julie to finish setting up and then handed her a glass. They paused to look at each other and smiled brightly, leaning in so their lips could meet in a gentle kiss. Julie pulled back and raised her glass.

"To us." Gill clinked her glass against Julie's and agreed.

"To us." They each took a sip of their champagne before they set their glasses to one side and started on the food. Julie hadn't brought much, just a few nibbles; olives, various pickles, some salad and of course the strawberries. They chatted casually as they ate, some of it about work and the things that were currently stressing Julie out the most.

"Why don't we go away for a few days? Just the two of us. It doesn't have to be anything too exotic, just somewhere where we can be ourselves and relax for a bit." Gill suggested and Julie immediately smiled at the idea but then let it fade as she thought deeper about it.

"I'm not sure I can clear the time off, besides won't it look strange if we both request the same leave?" Although they weren't strictly keeping their relationship secret they had both agreed that it was best to try to keep it to themselves for as long as possible. It gave them a chance to see if it was going to work out first because once it was out there would be no going back. Of course Sammy knew and had been absolutely fine with it, ecstatic even, much to their surprise. Gill had a feeling that Janet suspected something was going on, her oldest friend hadn't passed her sergeant's exams for nothing, but she hadn't said anything to her face yet.

"We're friends, we've been away together before and it's not been a problem. It's probably more in your head than anything else." They'd shared quite a few holidays over the course of their friendship; a few city breaks within the UK and abroad, a couple of beach holidays in the Spanish sun and one booze cruise in the South of France.

"Yeah, I suppose you're right." Julie sighed, sounding a little deflated. She perhaps did get a little paranoid when she wanted to guard something about her personal life.

"You are still alright with this…us…aren't you?" For a moment Gill had a horrible feeling that Julie had an ulterior motive to this picnic.

"Of course, I wouldn't have gone to all this trouble if I wasn't. It's just that sometimes…sometimes it would be nice to think that we could come out and be open about it." People back at HQ had begun to notice that she had an extra bounce in her step recently and that she left the office at a reasonable time on a more regular basis. She'd been very discreet of course but it was hard to play down the fact that she was feeling on top of the world when she'd come into work straight from her Gill's bed after an early morning love-making session.

"We could, if you wanted to?" Gill wasn't opposed to the idea at all, she was fairly confident that things were going to work out between them. Besides, she was getting a bit old for all the stress of keeping secrets. It was Julie who had been the more reluctant party.

"I know that we could but I meant without all the fuss, the 'novelty factor' and the potentially nasty stuff. It's why I've never been open about any of my previous relationships." Julie didn't need to use her imagination to think about the sort of things their colleagues could throw their way. She could cope with public negativity because they were nameless strangers she wouldn't have to see again. Besides, she had some authority in that she could wave her police badge at them if it got too bad.

"I hadn't really thought about it that way to be honest. I've thought less about you being a woman and more about you being a friend and colleague. But I know that despite the fact that we work so closely together sometimes, relationships between fellow officers are very common and don't forget I've been there before with Dave." Julie shook her head free of her maudlin thoughts and smiled at her partner.

"I know. I'm just being silly because I'm stressed, ignore me." Julie tried to make light of her concerns so that she didn't spoil their lovely afternoon.

"It's not silly, obviously it's something that bothers you?" Gill was patient and kind and allowed Julie time to compose her thoughts. The older woman sighed deeply and prepared to explain what was going on in her head.

"When I was in my late twenties I was seeing this absolutely gorgeous woman called Sandra. She was tall, blonde, very sporty with muscles you could bounce coins off of..." Julie's voice had taken on a wistful tone as she brought up the image of her ex girlfriend in her mind.

"Humph…" Gill felt a little put out by the implication that she wasn't quite up to Julie's usual standard of partner.

"Gill, it was over twenty years ago! _Anyway_, I very nearly came out to the team I was working on at the time when Sandra and I moved in together but my senior officer beat me to it and came out herself. I have never heard such sexist and homophobic language in all my life, then or now. She was treated appallingly, constantly undermined and belittled and yet didn't have a leg to stand on because there wasn't the understanding and legal protection that we have now."

"That's awful, I can't imagine having to live through that. I've had my fair share of sexist remarks, especially in the early days of my career, but nothing on that sort of scale."

"It scared me so much that I swore I'd never allow myself to be exposed like that, even if it meant I had to stay in the closet forever." Julie was fairly open about her sexuality outside of work; she attended local gay groups and LGBT social events when she could. She'd been honest with Gill very early on in their friendship, which had been so easy to fall into, and it been accepted with absolutely no fuss at all.

"But like you said, it's different now?"

"Time and a few equality laws can't take away that fear, it's ingrained." Gill reached out and touched the arm that wasn't supporting Julie's weight.

"You have me, I'm not afraid." Julie turned her arm so that she could lace their fingers together.

"Yeah, I do."

"Come on, let's just book that holiday. We need some time to ourselves. Everything else will slot into place in its own time." Gill squeezed Julie's hand in a gesture of reassurance.

"Sometimes I don't understand what I've done right to deserve you. How were we so blind for so long?"

"I can't even say that you don't know me well enough yet, so I'll just stick with the fact that you're completely insane." Gill wasn't quite sure what she'd done right to be exploring this relationship with her best friend either, but whatever it was she was grateful.

"Well that makes two of us then!"

"Oi! Watch it lady!" Gill shuffled around on the blanket and moved some of the tupperware containers out of the way as she did so. Julie sat up properly in anticipation of Gill's arrival on her side of the blanket. Gill stood on her knees so that she was looking down at Julie, took her face in her hands and kissed her soundly on the lips. She kissed her forehead, nose, cheek and then placed another on her lips before pausing for breath. "I love you." Julie grinned up at her and tugged her down so that she was practically sitting in her lap.

"And I love you." They kissed again and nuzzled against each other for a few moments in peaceful silence.

**Meanwhile…**

DC Janet Scott watched her old friend and boss cross over the road to Royton Park from her office window and observed the obvious bounce in her step. She'd had a feeling for weeks now that she was seeing someone who clearly made her very happy indeed. She was intrigued to know who it was as she knew that the DCI was no longer seeing her toyboy lover from the NPIA. Suddenly she heard a vibrating sound and noticed that Gill had left her mobile on her desk, presumably in her haste to meet whoever this mystery man was. Janet chuckled to herself and thought that it must be serious if she'd left her phone behind.

Forty five minutes later Janet's nosiness paid off as all hell broke loose on a new case for syndicate nine and Godzilla was needed back at base urgently. The blonde DC grabbed her best mate, Rachel Bailey, and together they headed off to the park without any explanation to their colleagues.

"What's going on Jan?" Rachel quizzed her friend excitedly.

"It's Gill, I think she's got a new fella and she went to meet him here for lunch. I didn't want anyone else to suspect as I think she's trying to keep him secret for some reason."

"Ooh, this should be fun!" The two women split up after they had entered the park and took a side of the main path each, looking closely in-between the trees for their boss. It was a particularly warm and bright day and Janet felt a little envious of the various couples and friends she saw enjoying the weather as she went about her search.

* * *

"Why don't we finish up these strawberries and then make a move?" Julie reluctantly suggested as she thought about the mountain of work she still had to get through before she even contemplated going home for the day. Gill nodded and reached for the punnet. She took out a strawberry, broke off the green stem and popped it into Julie's mouth. Julie made consuming the summer fruit as provocative as she could before feeding Gill one in return. Gill was more than happy to play along and they proceeded to take it in turns to feed each other. They got to the last strawberry and Gill decided to share it with Julie by holding it in her teeth and kissing her lover at the same time. Suddenly, out of the corner of their eyes, they saw a shadow cross in front of them and each bit down on their half of the fruit as they looked up to see what had disturbed them. They froze in shock as Janet's knowing smirk greeted them. Gill felt Julie stiffen behind her so she reached out to clasp her hand in support.

"You left your mobile on your desk. A new case has broken and we need you back at the office urgently." Janet explained to her boss without apology. Gill chewed on her mouthful of strawberry slowly, swallowed it and then nodded at her friend. Before she could say anything Rachel came bounding up having noticed that Janet had stopped looking for their boss and appeared to be talking to someone.

"You found 'er then…oh…" Rachel suddenly clued in and noticed that Gill was holding Julie's hand and that they were practically sitting in each other's laps. "Ma'am...Gill…" She uttered by way of greeting, half in shock at the sight before her. There was an awkward silence for a few moments before Julie slipped her hand free of Gill's grasp and pulled away so that she could start packing up the picnic things.

"Julie don't…" Gill looked at her lover and knew that this is what she had been dreading. Janet wasn't just another colleague though so she had to let her know that it was going to be okay. "You worked it out then?" Gill didn't need to clarify what she meant to her longtime friend.

"Yeah, I had a feeling. I didn't know the details though." By 'details' everyone knew that she actually meant 'who' but she hadn't wanted to offend Julie while she was sitting in front of them looking uncharacteristically rattled.

"Right, let's get this out of the way then. Janet, Rachel meet my…" Gill paused for half a second having never actually thought of how to describe their relationship for the benefit of other people. All the words that sprang to mind seemed inadequate somehow, yet they were the ones people generally understood. "…partner, lover, girlfriend…whatever else you feel comfortable calling her. Julie, DC's Janet Scott and Rachel Bailey." Janet played along and stuck out her hand to Julie. The formidable DSI shook it uncertainly, half wondering what on earth Gill was playing at and the rest of her still reeling from the shock of being caught out.

"Right…well, as Gill's oldest friend I should say that if you hurt her in any way then I'll make sure you know how I feel about it. Otherwise, I'm very pleased for you both. Whatever you're doing certainly seems to be working, I haven't seen Gill this happy in years!" Janet beamed at Julie and then Gill, hoping that she'd done enough to reassure them both. Rachel simply stood at Janet's shoulder, agog at what she'd just witnessed.

"Rachel?" Janet prompted her best friend to say something equally as supportive.

"Err, yeah, what she said Ma'am, Boss." Janet rolled her eyes, she could trust her friend to be a blithering idiot at the wrong time!

"Take your time sorting yourselves out, we'll go back and stop the troops from panicking."

"Thanks Janet." Gill watched as they turned to head back to the police station. "And ladies? Not a word to anyone about this, at least not yet, we're not quite ready for everyone to know." Janet and Rachel had stopped and turned to look back at their boss upon hearing her voice.

"Goes without saying Gill." Janet reassured her friend, smiled and then dragged Rachel along behind her as they finally left the park.

"Well, that was…unexpected." Gill remarked to Julie as they were left in peace once again. "Julie?" The older woman had been unusually quiet throughout the entire exchange.

"I don't know what…how did…?" Julie still hadn't quite grasped what had just transpired but she knew that it was okay as long as Gill was by her side. She burst into laughter at the sheer absurdness of the exchange. It proved infectious as Gill joined in and they continued to chuckle all the way out of the park.

lunch - Page **5** of **5**


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